


What We Do In The Darkness Comes To Light

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exile, Friendship/Love, Multi, Slice of Life, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-28 16:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16726869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: Loose sequel to "Come to Light" Cody and Obi-Wan are in hiding after Vader's plans go awry, leaving Cody shaken in his sense of self and purpose. Vader plots and leaves them to it, while Obi-Wan comforts his partner and to show him that he's more than a tool useful only for a purpose.





	What We Do In The Darkness Comes To Light

**Author's Note:**

> I did get asked whether [ "Come to Light" ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16617326) would have a companion piece and this is what came after. It does deal a bit with mental issues and I guess this was what I was dealing with at the time, so it came out here. 
> 
> Title is from The Arkell's "Come to Light"

_ Boba Fett walked into the room with the large glass windows that Vader always preferred to meet in.  _

_ Boba had asked himself if it was simply for effect, or practicality. The Emperor had eyes and ears everywhere. Even on Vader himself. Just because he was the right hand of the emperor, it didn’t mean that he was safe. No one was safe in the Empire. Not even the most faithful follower of the Emperor himself.  _

_ “Report.” _

_ “They’re no on Tatooine any longer. The aunt and uncle know nothing last time we shook them down. Last legitimate sighting we had was in the midrim. Dantooine.” _

_ Vader’s helmet inclined, the only indication that he had heard what Boba had to say. Boba had expected more questions But Vader remained quiet. Particularly about the boy and Kenobi. The other companion was unremarkable in all ways. Just a middle aged man that was only slightly taller than Kenobi and had the pleasant, open face of a Mandalorian farmer. Nothing more.  _

_ Yet Vader kept his own thoughts to himself, continuing to stare out the windows into the vast coldness of his space, leaving Boba to wonder if that was what he’d look like if he had opted out of the life he led and settled down fully and completely with Syntas. He wouldn’t ever find out thought. He had set his feet on this path and it would be the path he would be on until the end of his days.  _

_ “And the other cells?” _

_ Boba sighed inwardly.  _

_ “Disappeared without a trace. I’ve got subcontractors looking for them as we speak.” _

_ Vader turned around then, fixing those red tinted lenses onto him and for once, making a trickle of nervous sweat glide down his back. _

_ “Is anyone else aware of this?” _

_ Boba shook his head.  _

_ “They only know they’re looking for Jedi. Nothing more.” _

_ Vader nodded.  _

_ “Keep it that way. If there are any changes, contact me.” _

_ Boba sketched a bow and walked out without another word. He had the sudden need to be as far away as possible from Vader.  _

_ There was something there he didn’t recognise and he wanted to be in the clear once it exploded.  _

_ ~*~*~*~*~ _

_ Vader watched him go before turning his gaze back to the stars outside.  _

_ So the Emperor was in the dark still about Kenobi and the defector. And the boy. Mustn’t forget about  _ him _.  _

_ It was too early to make a move. The child was far too young and he knew how Kenobi worked.  _

_ He would bide his time. It was too soon for his plans to come to fruition. He needed more than a toddler to work with. Someone malleable, yet old enough to understand the instructions that he was being given.  _

_ He could wait five, maybe six more years. _

_ Then everything would be in place and he would have the universe remade in his image with his son ruling beside him. _

_ He could wait.  _

_ He couldn’t afford to show his hand too early.  He and the Emperor knew exactly how tenuous their relationship was and it was to his advantage that he keep his secrets and his designs in the darkness.  _

_ He couldn’t afford a misstep when he finally struck. _

_ ~*~*~*~*~ _

Obi-Wan’s hands stilled at the repairing of the water unit, the tools slipping from his hands when a flash of hopelessness, despair, and  _ pain _ hit him like an ocean wave, leaving him breathless with the intensity of the agony of it all. 

He put the tools down and rushed into the house, fearing that it was maybe Luke or-

No. it came from Cody, who was curled up on the biggest bed that was tacitly understood to be  _ theirs _ . 

It was still something that he had to get used to, sharing a bed when he had slept alone for so long. He wouldn’t have admitted either, but it was nice to share the warmth of another breathing, living being that loved him. It wasn’t the same was when he had-

He stopped that thought dead in its tracks and looked for Luke in case it would be a long while before he and Cody could come join him and have dinner with him as he was used to doing with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. 

He grimaced as he thought about them. How they hadn’t wanted to give up the boy and how they had fought to give him up. 

“We are giving him a home. Stability. What can you give him?”

Owen had shouted when Obi-Wan had voiced his request. 

“The same now. Quite possibly a few years under the radar before his father comes to him. Training so that if he does, he’s ready. Your lives spared.”

Beru’s face had paled under her perpetual tan and Obi-Wan noted that she had always been the one to grasp the situation quicker than Owen. She would have been formidable in a negotiation, if she had only been trained for it. 

Owen’s face had darkened once the implications had hit, making him deflate right before Obi-Wan’s gaze.

“It’s not safe any longer. They found me. It’s only sheer luck that they didn’t find Luke. Who’s to say that next time they won’t hit the right target?”

It was that piece of logic that had decided the situation and it had given them an excited Luke and the chance to exit Tatooine once and for all. 

One the trip out, they had learned from Luke about the household routine at the Lars, meals being one of them.

Cody liked the idea so much he made an effort to observe the ritual and had taken it upon himself to make the meals. But when “the shadow” as Luke took to calling it, gripped Cody, it was Obi-Wan who would take over the cooking as well as try and coax Cody to at least eat something before he fell back into bed again to continue fighting his own demons.

He didn’t have to look for long. Luke was quietly putting one of his model fighters together, his absorption in the task full and complete, something that Cody himself was no doubt hoping for. The sets usually lived on the shelves that Luke couldn’t reach and the sight of the made Obi-Wan’s heart sink. 

This was a bad cycle then. Cody only got the sets out when he was feeling particularly low.

Obi-Wan sighed, his own heart aching with sympathy as he quietly made his way over to Cody, who was lying curled up in a tight ball under the heavy, but soft blankets that they both favoured. Cody for the comfort and Obi-Wan for the fact that after five years in the desert, he was chilled easily and always wore thick sweaters that  _ Cody _ had learned to make for all of them.

Cody appreciated the blankets because they made him think less of the years he had been in space, training up the new recruits or hunting down Obi-Wan. 

They also helped him when he ended up following his own dark thoughts into a spiral that left him unable to do much except lie in bed and brood until he could do it himself. Or have Obi-Wan pull him out of it. 

Luke, for the simple grace of being his father’s son, couldn’t do it. Cody was thrown deeper into despair if Luke tried to help until he realised the kindest thing he could do for Cody was to let him be.

“Cody, love?”

Obi-Wan whispered as he entered the alcove and carefully made his way to the bed as to not startle Cody. He wasn’t  _ quite _ as bad as he used to be, but after getting cracked ribs from a punch, Obi-Wan wasn’t going to take any chances. 

Cody turned to look at him and pushed the blankets down, making Obi-Wan’s dread lighten. 

“Hey.”

He greeted Cody as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He never wanted to impose, yet he was always secretly hoping that Cody would invite him in out of his volition and not because he felt pressured into it. 

“Hey. Uhm...I couldn’t stop it today. I tried and the thoughts just wouldn’t stop. Even though I know it’s not true...I’m not useless...I still think that.”

Cody admitted in a low mumble, his cheeks as reddened as the rims of his still glassy eyes. 

Obi-Wan bit his lower lip before he slowly reached out and gently started stroking Cody’s hair, making him sigh and close his eyes.

“You’re not, Cody. You mean so much to me. And to Luke. You’re not useless. Or disposable. No matter what the trainers at Kamino said. Or what the Empire thinks. You’re  _ not _ .”

The last was spoken with a low urgency that made Cody look up at Obi-Wan, his dark eyes searching for something that Obi-Wan couldn’t always figure out  _ what _ . All he knew was that everytime the cycle played out, it was something that Cody had to do. 

Whether he was trying to convince himself Obi-Wan was telling the truth or whether to see if Obi-Wan meant the words and thus made them true, Obi-Wan didn’t know. 

All he knew was that once it happened, Cody would relax and the shadow would lose its grip on him. 

He held his breath while he waited for it to leave, afraid that if he didn’t hold still he would ruin the moment when the shadow lost its grip on Cody and he’d be stuck back there again. 

He waited, silently counting the moments when Cody’s eyes would get clearer and his body would fall lax. 

_ Nine...ten...eleven...twelve...thirteen. _

Cody sagged down into the mattress, clumsily liften a heavy hand to hold up the blankets for Obi-Wan to crawl in behind Cody and wrap himself around him, making himself another blanket to warm Cody up with. 

He didn’t care about the chill that emanated from his love at the moment. He only cared that Cody was back and needed to be held to complete his journey back to him and Luke. He wrapped his arms around Cody and rested his chin on Cody’s shoulder. 

“Thank you.”

Obi-Wan kissed his shoulder and snuggled tighter around him, making him sigh happily.

“Always.”

As if drawn by the calm, the bed dipped down as Luke climbed up and crawled towards them, burrowing under the blanket to curl up to Cody and in moments, he was asleep.

Just like Cody himself was.

It was then that he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was done.

They all could breathe again.


End file.
